Metropolis Office LeadsCentral London Office Lettings – Feb 2018

Central London office lettings in February 2018 reached just over 1m sq ft of deals from 50 mid-large size transactions (5,000 sq ft+) during the month. The February 2018 figure is in line with the current monthly average of 1m sq ft.

Financial Services topped the table of lettings by sector, underpinned by Sumitomo and Prudential deals. This was followed by professional services mainly underpinned by the signing of the Sidley Austin pre-let. Office deals ‘under offer’ in central London stayed at 3.5m sq ft, but pending deal volumes are healthy in nearly all sub-markets, with over 30 deals pending.

By area, the City accounted for 50pc of the office floorspace let in February 2018 at 501,000 sq ft. The West End saw 266,000 sq ft of take-up. Midtown contributed 66,000 sq ft of lettings, plus 143,000 sq ft of Docklands deals. Current London office demand is calculated to be around 3m sq ft in the City and 2.9m sq ft in the West End.

The volume of grade A (newly built or refurbished office space) let during the month reached 557,000 sq ft (55% of the monthly total), as transactions for new space resumed their recent strong showing. Availability is dominated by secondhand space in all London markets.

Metropolis research is currently monitoring 655 ‘live’ London requirements, with deals for space of up to 1.9m sq ft due to sign in the next few months.

Cityoffices is working on its current ‘Skyline Survey’ in London. Further details of office scheme planning applications and consents, with scheme by scheme detail are listed on the Cityoffices.net website. Details on the report and the Cityoffices database from Andy King at andy@metroinfo.co.uk